Radial Engineering Gold Digger

RADIAL ENGINEERING's Gold Digger is a 4-Channel Microphone Switch that allows the sound engineer to quickly compare the sound of as many different microphones sharing the same preamplifier. It features a passive 'Straight-Wire' circuit with no audio buffer or transformer, while it employs relays with gold-plated contacts to handle the switching process, thus ensuring a linear microphone signal without timbre alteration.

Notable features

• Four selectable trimmer-adjustable inputs
• Straight-wire signal path without distortion
• Linear response without coloration

Gold Digger allows you to record with the knowledge that you have chosen the right instrument for the job. It offers instant A/B comparison between up to four microphones without introducing any coloration, noise or distortion. Individual set and forget trim controls allow you to adjust the level of each microphone to produce the same relative output. Each channel has 48 V phantom power for use with condenser microphones.

Gold Digger has 4 rear XLR-F microphone inputs plus an XLR-M output to feed the preamplifier. Each channel has a Radio Style switch that ensures that only one microphone is activated at a time, eliminating problems that might occur when multiple microphones are operating. The external power supply provides power for the LED indicators, charges the relays, and allows Gold Digger to produce 48-volt phantom power that can be switched on or off for each microphone as needed.

Applications of Gold Digger

Comparison of four studio condenser microphones

Gold Digger allows you to quickly compare the sound of four microphones and send the signal to the same preamplifier. This ensures a reliable comparison since all microphone signals use the same audio path. Independent 48V on/off switches allow phantom power to be activated as needed.

Comparison of different direct boxes

Comparing DI boxes can often lead to surprising results. People often use an active DI such as the J48 only to find that a passive one such as the JDI might sound better in some cases. Connect the four DIs as you would a microphone and you are ready to go.

Selecting a wireless system

The Gold Digger can also be used on live tours, where up to four different wireless systems can be routed to a single audio input channel of the PA system. This could be 4 microphones at a church, 4 wireless guitars, or a pair of microphones at a town meeting.